The present invention relates to an endoscope video apparatus using an electronic endoscope.
When an endoscopic image of a body cavity, picked up by an electronic endoscope incorporating a solid-state image pickup element, is to be recorded in an image file unit, retrieval data required for retrieving the endoscopic image later is input from the image file unit. Since the image file unit is separated from the electronic endoscope, in order to input the retrieval data, the user must move between the image file unit and the electronic endoscope. In order to eliminate this inconvenience, an endoscope video apparatus has been developed which has a communication function between the image file unit and an endoscope light source unit to which an endoscope is connected. Retrieval data is input from the endoscope light source unit and transmitted to the image file unit via a communication line.
The endoscope video apparatus having the communication function eliminates a need for the user to move between the image file unit and the electronic endoscope. However, the user may sometimes forget to input retrieval data from the endoscope, and in this case it is impossible to retrieve an endoscopic image later because no retrieval data has been recorded.